You can build the Air Quality Sensor project without understanding how the software works, but if you want to know what’s really going on behind the scenes you can join me for a deep dive into the source code.
Part 1 showed how to make the simplest possible air quality sensor. Part 2 added a 128×32 pixel OLED display and a mode button.
It’s surprisingly easy to make your own simple air quality sensor. All you need is a cheap laser-scattering particulate matter sensor, a Wemos D1 Mini, a soldering iron, and Tasmota.
Part 1 showed how to make the simplest possible air quality sensor. Make sure you’ve seen that first, because Part 2 continues from Part 1 to add a 128×32 pixel OLED display and a mode button. We’re also going to install custom firmware to make the sensor last longer.
Printing a case is totally optional, of course. You can use whatever enclosure you like. My case has been designed to be a press-fit over the PMS5003, which holds the two halves together by friction. See the link above to download the STLs if you want to print it yourself, or you can buy a case from me if you don’t have access to a printer. I’ll include a 6x6x9mm tact switch with the “Display” version of the case:
The space for the tact switch is very tight.
To fit it into the slot, trim off the pins from the right side and trim the pins on the left side so they are a couple of millimeters long. Bend those leads out at a 45 degree angle, and solder a pair of jumper wires to them.
Push the switch into the cavity in the case as shown above, and guide the wires around the slot to the left and then down.
The button connects between GND and I/O pin D3:
The 0.91″ 128×32 OLED module already has I2C pull-ups included, so there’s no need to add them. All we need to do is connect power and I2C:
The connections are:
In the “Basic” version of this project, we only needed to connect to the 5V, GND, and Tx pins of the PMS5003. Now we also need to connect I/O pin D6 to the sensor’s Rx pin, to allow commands to be sent to the sensor:
The connections are:
This can be more tricky than it sounds! Be gentle so you don’t damage anything.
With the electronics sitting neatly in the “back” (or “right”) half of the case, make sure all the wiring is neatly tucked into the slots. It should look something like this:
Slide the other half of the case over the modules, checking that no wires are pinched between the halves. The case should close completely.
If you don’t already have it, download and install the Arduino IDE:
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
By default, the Arduino IDE does not support the ESP8266 processor on the D1 Mini. To add this support, go to the following URL and follow the instructions. The easiest method is to use the Boards Manager:
https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino
The sketch uses 4 libraries.
The “PMS” library is directly embedded within the program, so you don’t need to install it. This is done to force a specific version of the library, which was forked from the official version by GitHub user SwapBap to add extra features. There’s nothing you need to do because it’s part of the project.
In the Arduino IDE, go into “Sketch -> Include Library -> Manage Libraries…“
Then search for each of these libraries, and click “Install”:
If you need more help, check out this tutorial:
https://www.arduino.cc/en/guide/libraries
Download the AirQualitySensorD1Mini sketch from:
https://github.com/SuperHouse/AirQualitySensorD1Mini
The easiest way is to click the green “Clone or download” button near the top right of the page and select “Download ZIP”. Once you’ve downloaded it, extract the folder and put it in your sketchbook directory. You can find the correct location for this by looking in the Arduino IDE preferences.
Open the Arduino IDE, open the sketch, and have a look at the 4 tabs across the top. You can ignore the first three. Open the “config.h” tab, and modify the settings for WiFi and your MQTT broker:
Plug in the Air Quality Sensor using a USB cable.
Select “Tools -> Board:” and set it to “LOLIN(WEMOS) D1 R2 & mini”. Select the port, and upload the sketch:
After the sketch has uploaded the Air Quality Sensor will reboot, connect to your WiFi and MQTT broker, and show values on the display once it has successfully received data from the PMS5003.
Stay tuned for part 3, which will explain how the sketch works and how to read the data from it.
It’s surprisingly easy to make your own simple air quality sensor. All you need is a cheap laser-scattering particulate matter sensor, a Wemos D1 Mini, a soldering iron, and Tasmota.
Part 1 shows how to make the simplest possible version of the SuperHouse Air Quality Sensor, the “Basic” version.
Part 2 shows how to improve it to make a more advanced “Display” version, Part 3 is a detailed walkthrough of how the firmware works, Part 4 will explain how various Air Quality Index calculations are done around the world, and Part 5 will step it right up with the “Pro” version with VOC sensor.
Here in Australia we’ve recently had a terrible bushfire season, and there’s been a lot of concern about the effects of smoke on air quality. Smoke particles, pollen, and many other forms of air pollution are tiny. Really tiny. Many people have been wearing “PM2.5” face masks, which means they are designed to filter out particles as small as 2.5 microns in size, but pollen and smoke can be even smaller than that.
Detecting tiny particles down in the 0.1 to 10 micron range is hard. Normally you’d need an electron microscope to detect something this small. In fact these particles are so small that they are often smaller than the wavelength of light, which is in the region of 0.5 microns. This means light doesn’t interact with them in the usual way: instead of bouncing off them like a particle, it can bend around them like a wave, and it can also refract inside them like tiny lenses.
Laser-scattering particle detectors pass a laser through a test chamber, with a deflection sensor on the other side. Particles in the test chamber cause the beam to be scattered in different ways, and the deflection sensor can use this scattering to determine the number and size of particles in the chamber.
This process creates a series of concentric rings on the deflection sensor, which can use the spacing of the rings to determine the characteristics of the particles.
The particles that are detected are then categorised, or “binned”, into different size ranges for reporting.
All of this functionality is wrapped up in the tiny Plantower PMS5003 sensor, which provides a serial interface to report the statistics for the particles that it detects.
Reporting is normally provided in a couple of forms.
The simplest number is the PPD value, which stands for “particles per deciliter”. The higher the number, the more particles there are in the air sample.
The most commonly used number is the “ug/m^3” value, which is micrograms per cubic meter. This is the total mass of particles in that size range in a cubic meter of air, so smaller particles will require a higher raw count to add up to the same mass as larger particles.
The “Basic” version of the SuperHouse Air Quality Sensor only requires a a Plantower PMS5003, the connection cable that comes with it, and a Wemos D1 Mini. See the links above for sources to buy them.
You can also print your own 3D-printed enclosure, or buy one from me if you don’t have easy access to a printer.
The PMS5003 requires a 5V supply because it has an internal fan to keep air flowing through the test chamber, but all its I/O connections are 3.3V.
This is perfect for a D1 Mini, because we can connect the power pins to 5V on the D1 Mini and connect the sensor “TX” pin to an I/O header on the Mini.
Cut the supplied cable off at about 2/3rds of its length. Plug it into the PMS5003 to check the orientation, and then strip and tin the ends of the wires connected to pins 1, 2, and 5.
Connect VCC and GND from the PMS5003 to the 5V and GND headers on the D1 Mini.
Connect TX from the PMS5003 to the D4 header on the D1 Mini, which is GPIO2 for the ESP8266 MCU.
I’ve designed a case that slips over the PMS5003 and provides a space for the D1 Mini and wires. You can download the STLs and print it yourself, or if you don’t have access to a 3D printer you can buy it from me in a variety of colour options.
The case comes in two halves. Insert the PMS5003 into the case first, and then slip the D1 Mini into the space at the bottom. The case is oriented so that if the USB socket is on the side towards the PMS5003 it will be accessible through a slot.
Push the wires down into the case so everything is neat, and then slide the other half of the case over the top. It may take some jiggling to get the wires out of the way and the D1 Mini properly inserted into the slot.
There are many ways to install Tasmota on the D1 Mini, but my new favorite is to use Tasmotizer. I did a whole video about how to install and use Tasmotizer, so follow the instructions here if you need to install it:
SuperHouse #37: Installing Tasmota with Tasmotizer
Once you have Tasmotizer running, connect the D1 Mini using a USB cable and select the port.
Note: As of Tasmota v8.2, support for the PMS5003 has been removed from the normal “tasmota.bin” release binary. Instead, you must select “tasmota-sensors.bin”.
After the D1 Mini has been flashed, click “Send config” in Tasmotizer to open the configuration screen.
{"NAME":"SuperHouse AQS","GPIO":[255,255,69,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255],"FLAG":15,"BASE":18}
Click “Save” to send the new configuration to the D1 Mini.
It will then restart, and will connect to your WiFi network using the values you just provided.
You can use a serial console connected at 115200bps to get the IP address directly from the D1 Mini, or look in the management interface for your DHCP server to find the recently added device.
Once you’ve found the IP address, put it into a web browser to load up Tasmota’s web interface.
The module will report its latest readings, updating as fast as the sensor is sending them.
You can also configure the D1 Mini manually if you didn’t use the template above. Starting from a default Tasmota installation, log into the web interface and set up the module as shown below.
Tasmota periodically publishes all the PMS5003 readings aggregated into a single JSON string, in the “../SENSOR” topic.
The topic will depend on the settings you applied for MQTT. In my case, with the “Topic” modified as explained above, the readings are published to a topic that looks similar to “tele/tasmota-5F596F/SENSOR” with the unique ID of this particular device substituted.
The published value will look something like this:
{"Time":"2020-03-17T13:08:11","PMS5003":{"CF1":2,"CF2.5":5,"CF10":5,"PM1":2,"PM2.5":5,"PM10":5,"PB0.3":516,"PB0.5":144,"PB1":38,"PB2.5":0,"PB5":0,"PB10":0}}
You can parse the JSON using your favorite method, such as with Node-RED. I’ll go over this in more detail in Part 2 when we look at more advanced software options.
The “PMx” values are micrograms per cubic meter. The “PBx” values are particles per deciliter.
This “Basic” version of the SuperHouse Air Quality Sensor is very simple to make, but it has a couple of limitations.
The laser and the deflection sensor in the PMS5003 can degrade over time. After about 6000 hours of continuous use it may begin to decrease in sensitivity. The life of the sensor can be dramatically extended by shutting it down for a couple of minutes, then waking it up, giving it time to stabilise, taking a reading, and shutting it down again. With this change the sensor can last for many years.
There is also no way to interact with the device directly. You have to access it over the network, either by loading the Tasmota web interface or by using the data published to MQTT. Adding a screen and a mode button can make it easy to read particulate levels directly on the device.
Both of these limitations are fixed in the “Display” version of the SuperHouse Air Quality Sensor in the next episode. Stay tuned!
Installing Tasmota onto a device such as a Sonoff is usually done using esptool.py, which is a powerful command line utility but it can be a bit confusing if you’re not used to it. Now it’s been paired with an amazing graphical interface called Tasmotizer that gives you point-and-click convenience, and adds some handy features for configuring your devices:
The Tasmotizer page has good installation instructions, with three options given.
Use whichever method suits you best. I used Pip to install it on my iMac, my Macbook Pro, and my Ubuntu desktop, and the process went smoothly on all of them. Make sure you have the latest version of Pip, and then use it to install Tasmotizer:
pip3 install --upgrade pip
pip3 install tasmotizer
If your Python installation is set up so that new programs are automatically available, it should be possible to simply type in the name and press “Enter”:
tasmotizer.py
However, you may not be so lucky. You may have to find where Pip installed it. Pip can tell you where the files are for a specific package, but its output has horrible formatting that’s hard to interpret. Run this command to see a list of all the files in the Tasmotizer package:
pip3 show -f tasmotizer
The output will include a line called “Location” which shows the directory where the program is located. On my iMac, Pip installed Tasmotizer at:
~/Library/Python/3.7/bin/tasmotizer.py
But on my Macbook, it was installed at:
/usr/local/bin/tasmotizer.py
And on my Ubuntu desktop, it was installed at:
~/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/tasmotizer.py
It’s a pity that Python’s installation management is such a mess, and produces unpredictable results. Hopefully you can find the location for your installation without too many problems.
Once you’ve discovered its location, paste in the appropriate command and press “Enter” to launch Tasmotizer.
Your target device needs to be connected to your computer using USB, either by directly plugging in a cable or by using a USB-to-Serial adapter. Some devices such as Wemos D1 Mini boards have built-in USB. Sonoff boards don’t have USB so you’ll need to make up an adapter to suit the programming header for your specific board. I’ve done many videos and guides for reflashing various Sonoff models, and the Tasmota site has excellent documentation so follow the appropriate guide to make the connections.
Most Sonoff models use a simple 4-pin header, so I designed the Sonoff Programming Adapter to make it easy to plug in a 3.3V USB-to-Serial adapter with a standard 6-pin header.
The ESP8266 / ESP8285 processor needs to be placed into a special bootloader mode before it can have Tasmota installed. This is done by powering it up while the GPIO0 pin is held at 0V, which is usually done using the control button. The sequence is:
The device then stays in bootloader mode, waiting for new software to be loaded.
Click the “Refresh” button so Tasmotizer will scan for connected devices and update its list. Use the drop-down to find your target device.
Tasmotizer gives you three options for selecting a firmware image.
If you have your own binary, such as a version of Tasmota or some other firmware that you’ve compiled or downloaded, click the “BIN file” radio button and select the file from your local disk.
If you want to install the current release version of Tasmota, click the “Release” radio button and then use the drop-down menu to select the specific flavour of Tasmota for your device.
If you like to live on the edge, you can click the “Development” radio button and use the latest development code that hasn’t been released yet.
If you want Tasmotizer to make a backup of the existing software on your device, click the “Backup original firmware” option. This will allow you to put it back onto the device later if you change your mind.
If you want to make sure the entire memory of the device is cleared, click the “Erase before flashing” option. This makes sure there is nothing remaining from the previous firmware still left on the device, such as saved configuration options. This is a good idea to make sure you have a fresh start and Tasmota won’t read data from a previous installation.
With the correct firmware image selected, click the blue “Tasmotize!” button. Tasmotizer will download the selected image (if required) and install it onto your device.
You’ll see a progress bar as the image is installed. Once it’s done, you’ll be prompted to restart it.
Congratulations! Tasmota is installed.
If you want to configure it manually you can do that by following the usual Tasmota instructions. However, Tasmotizer can save you a lot of time by allowing you to do some basic configuration via USB while it’s still connected to your computer.
Click the “Send config” button to open a configuration window.
Click the check-box to enable the WiFi section, and enter your WiFi network name and password.
Click the check-box to enable module/template setup, which gives you options to either select a pre-defined module or apply a template. Applying a module profile or a template allows your device to be configured entirely from Tasmotizer.
If you have a common device, select “Module” and find the device in the drop-down list.
If you have a device that has a template provided for it, select “Template” and then paste the template into the text box. There are more than 1000 templates provided at the Tasmota Device Templates Repository.
If you use MQTT in your home automation system, click the check-box to enable MQTT setup and put in the address of your MQTT broker.
You can manually define the topic for this device (such as “bedroom1”) but my personal preference is to allow the device to generate the topic based on its own internal ID. That way all devices come up with their own unique topics, which can then be referenced in the home automation system.
To do that, change the “Topic” setting to add the extension “-%06X”, like this:
tasmota-%06X
What this will do is take the last 6 hexadecimal digits of the device ID and append them, so the topic will be something like “tasmota-6A0B15”. This value is then used to generate the FullTopic value below it automatically, by replacing the “%topic%” placeholder. The result will be full topics that look similar to:
cmnd/tasmota-6A0B15/POWER tele/tasmota-6A0B15/TEMPERATURE ...etc
I like this approach because it means that all my Tasmota devices can have the same configuration, but they still end up with unique MQTT topics.
With all your preferred options set, click the “Save” button. Tasmotizer will send your configuration to the device, and you’re all done. This step is a bit strange, because it happens so fast that it seems like it couldn’t possibly have done anything, but if you get a confirmation dialog then you’re all set.
Finished! Your Tasmota device will now reboot and apply the settings that you configured, so after a few seconds it will be on your network. Just follow the Tasmota documentation to learn how to link it to your home automation system.
I’m sure you’ve heard of the crazy coronavirus epidemic that’s rapidly spreading around the world, and has now been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization.
One of the areas that has been hardest hit by the virus is the city of Wuhan, on the Yangtze River in east-central China. Wuhan went into a state of lockdown on January 23rd, with businesses closed and everyone told to stay home and avoid contact with other people.
China is taking this threat extremely seriously, responding on a scale that I don’t think would be possible in any other country. I don’t know of anywhere else in the world that could build entire 1000-bed hospitals from the ground up in 6 days, just to respond to a sudden medical need. If anyone can face a challenge like this, it’s the Chinese.
The primary focus has to be on the health of those in the affected areas, of course. So far I haven’t heard of any of my Chinese colleagues being infected, and I hope it stays that way.
Bare PCBs for both Freetronics and SuperHouse products are mostly produced by Gold Phoenix, which is located in Wuhan, right in the bullseye of the epidemic. Like almost all businesses in Wuhan, Gold Phoenix has told workers to stay home and stay safe.
Some of our prototype PCBs are produced in factories around the city of Shenzhen, in southern China just over the border from Hong Kong. Those factories are currently closed too.
Our PCBA (PCB Assembly, which includes pick-and-place installation of parts on the boards) and final testing and packaging is done in Beijing, which has now also gone into lockdown. Not only are factories closed, but roads out of the cities have been closed to prevent the spread of infection so any boards that have aleady been produced are stuck in warehouses.
There are currently batches of EtherMega and EtherTen boards that were scheduled to ship a few days ago, but they are now caught up in the lockdown and can’t leave Beijing.
So over the next little while there will probably be stock problems for both Freetronics and SuperHouse. Please be patient while I do my best to assemble what I can using local stock of bare PCBs and parts, and keep in mind the millions of people who are now stuck at home with dwindling food supplies. It may be frustrating that products are out of stock, but that’s really not important when the health of so many people is at stake.
I’m taking a big leap and paying to have SuperHouse boards produced in a factory, which costs a lot of money up front but hopefully will give me more time to work on videos. It also means that some products will now have awesome retail packaging.
I’m also clearing space in my lab by giving my Patreon supporters access to a special secret section of my online store, where they can buy clearance items for not much more than the cost of postage. To make this happen, the online store now has a password-protected category called “Members Only”. Patreon supporters will receive passwords from time to time, giving access to special discounted products that only they can see.
Still plenty of work to do, and the controls are too twitchy, but it works!
This is a combination of the Chair Breakout Mini (to read the joystick position and transmitting it on CAN bus) and the Wheelchair Motor Controller, which receives the messages and drives the motors and brakes.
We’re making rapid progress on a number of Assistive Technology projects, so if you want to join in the discussion please join the SuperHouse Discord server and use the #assistive-tech channel.
This was a surprisingly fun and useful project!
Connecting test probes to PCBs can be difficult when the contact points are very small, or when you need to keep the probes in place while using your hands to run tests or use a computer. Normal test probes for multimeters, oscilloscopes, and other equipment have to be held in place.
This amazing 3D-printed PCB workstation uses acupuncture needles as test probes. The test probes are attached to adjustable arms that can hold them in position on the device under test.
Print the parts and make one for your own lab:
You can print the plastic parts yourself using the files provided on Thingiverse, or you can buy a kit from the designer. I printed the parts over the space of a few days while I was working on other things. The base takes a few hours to print and there are many other parts, so don’t try to rush through it. Collect everything you need and lay it out to make sure you have it all.
The Thingiverse project includes both large and small PCB holders. I’ve only printed the small ones so far. Thread an M5 bolt up through the base and a bracket, and put an M5 washer and wing-nut on top. Make sure the bracket can slide along the slot.
Stick a rubber foot under each corner of the base, to help it sit securely on your bench and give the bolt heads enough clearance to slide without sticking.
Insert the vertical bracket into the mounting base. I used a drop of superglue to lock it in place.
Danger! If you put superglue into the mounting base and then squeeze in the vertical bracket, the superglue can squirt out under high pressure. Be very careful that you don’t squirt it into your eyes!
The handles of the acupuncture probes that I bought are about 1.3mm in diameter, and didn’t fit into the mounting clips. I drilled out the clips with a 1.5mm drill, and used super-glue to attach them in place with most of the handle sticking out the top.
The mounting clips are a press-fit into the horizontal arm. Use super-glue to fix them permanently.
Pass an M4 bolt through the vertical mount and horizontal arm, then put an M4 washer and wing-nut on it.
If the end of the acupuncture needle is plain steel, you can solder the wire directly onto it. My acupuncture needles are all stainless steel so I used a ferrule with the plastic cover removed, and crimped the wire onto the end of the needle.
I put 1.5mm heat-shrink tubing over the needle, with just the end exposed. This is optional but it may help prevent the probes from short-circuiting against each other.
Thread the wire along the horizontal arm. What you put on the other end of the wire is up to you: I soldered on a pin header and then put heat-shrink tubing over the joint. Alternatively, you could put on an alligator clip, a banana plug, a spring clip, or whatever suits you.
With the device under test mounted on the base, press-fit test probes into the base. Use the handles on the test probes to rotate them, and tighten the wing nut when the needle is in position.
The needles are quite springy, so it’s easy to adjust their position with a pair of tweezers after they are approximately right. The heat-shrink on the needle helps with this, because it’s easy to grip with the tweezers.
Every single Sonoff model has used the Espressif ESP8266 / ESP8285 processor – until now.
But now ITEAD has gone in a different direction, and released the Sonoff BasicZBR3 which drops WiFi entirely in favour of Zigbee. It doesn’t even use an Espressif processor: instead it uses a Texas Instruments CC2530, which is based on the 40-year-old Intel 8051 processor architecture.
What is Zigbee, and how does it compare to WiFi? Is the Sonoff BasicZBR3 any good?
Let’s find out!
Zigbee is a wireless communications system that’s similar to WiFi in some ways, but they are optimised for very different purposes. They both use the 2.4GHz unlicensed ISM band, and they’re both based on standards managed by the IEEE: 802.11 for WiFi, 802.15.4 for Zigbee.
WiFi is optimised for devices with plenty of power available, and that also require very high throughput. It provides bandwidth in the region of hundreds of Mbps. Perfect for laptops, smartphones, tablets, and security cameras.
Zigbee is optimised for devices that need to run at extremely low power for a long time, and that don’t need to transfer much data. It provides bandwidth of 250kbps, so only about 1/1000th as much as WiFi. It’s suited to tiny devices that need to run on a coin cell for several years, and only pass small amounts of data. Great for temperature sensors and similar IoT devices that only need to send tiny amounts of data every few minutes.
WiFi uses a star topology, with each client device connecting directly to an access point. All communication is arbitrated through the access points, and end devices don’t talk to each other directly. The access points are linked together using some sort of backhaul, usually wired Ethernet. With this topology, you need enough access points to provide coverage of the entire area where you will be deploying devices:
Zigbee is much more flexible in its topology. It can be operated as a simple star just like WiFi, but it can also operate as a mesh because some Zigbee devices can act as relays to extend the coverage of the network:
There are three types of Zigbee device.
Zigbee End Devices (ZED) are nodes that only connect to one other device. They can enter a deep sleep mode to go offline when they aren’t sending data, so they can typically operate for 2 years or more from a tiny coin cell. Typical ZEDs include temperature sensors, light switches, and motion detectors. There can be many ZEDs in a typical Zigbee network.
Zigbee Routers (ZR) are nodes that don’t go into sleep mode. They stay awake continually, ready to pass on messages between other Zigbee devices. They are also functional devices in their own right: they include smart power plugs and light globes, because these typically have mains power available and can remain operating indefinitely. They don’t need to go into sleep mode to conserve a battery. With a few ZRs spread across your coverage area, your network can provide connections for many ZEDs.
Zigbee Coordinators (ZC) are the most important type of node. There can only ever be one ZC in each network. It always takes the first network address, and then it assigns addresses to all the other devices in the network as they join. You can think of it as being like the DHCP server in a typical LAN. Usually the ZC will also act as a gateway to other types of network, such as connecting your Zigbee network onto your WiFi network or wired LAN. Many home automation hubs can act as a ZC.
The Sonoff BasicZBR3 is wired up the same way as other Sonoff models, with active and neutral coming in on the input side on the left, and then going out to the load (such as a lamp) on the right. Follow the instructions provided by ITEAD and the guides in my previous videos to make the connections.
Once the BasicZBR3 is installed, turn on the power. It will begin in pairing mode, ready to join an existing Zigbee network. Startup is very fast, and it will be ready within a second or so.
You will need a home automation hub that can operate as a Zigbee Coordinator, such as an Amazon Echo Plus.
With the BasicZBR3 turned on and in pairing mode, and within range of your Echo, say “Alexa, discover devices.”
Your Echo will tell you that it is looking for new devices, and the BasicZBR3 will flash its output when it is discovered. The Echo will wait for some time in case there are devices that are slow to respond, so you will have to wait a minute before it will report back that it has found your new device.
That’s it, you’re done! You can now control the BasicZBR3 using commands such as “Alexa, turn on the first plug.”
Customisation of the node names can be done through the Alexa app.
Programming the CC2530 requires power to the device, plus DD (Debug Data), DC (Debug Clock), and Reset.
In the BasicZBR3, the output relay is controlled by I/O pin P0_7, and it reads the tactile switch using pin P1_3:
The BasicZBR3 provides the debug connections for the CC2530 in a handy 5-pin header, so if you want to mess around with the firmware and load your own code into it, these are the connections on the PCB:
If you write any custom firmware for the Sonoff BasicZBR3, please join the forum or Discord server and share your results.
UPDATE: The definition of the ESPFlash header convention is now here:
www.superhouse.tv/espflash
If you don’t put USB on your project, you have to decide on a programming header to use. But everyone does it their own way: Sonoff has theirs, wESP32 has another, many projects have them and they’re all different!
That sucks, so let’s fix it by deciding what we think should be the conventional programming header format for our projects.
My goals are:
And the stretch goal: Convince Espressif to document it as a recommended header format for new ESPxx projects.
If we’re super-lucky, maybe we can convince ITEAD to fix the incomplete Sonoff programming header by adding RESET and GPIO0, and make all our lives easier in future.
We need to decide on a physical format, and also whether to supply 3.3V or 5V to the target board from the programmer. The pins we need are:
Physical format options include:
The design considerations for the physical format include:
Considerations for the choice of 3.3V or 5V include:
This has the advantage that it’s well documented, and many people have made adapters for it.
Already implemented on the wEPS32. 5V supply means the input can be diode-isolated from other supply sources on the board. 4 of the pins match the Sonoff header, except that Sonoff requires 3.3V so it’s not a perfect match.
This is the closest we could have to matching the Sonoff header while extending it to add the GPIO0 and RESET lines.
Documented by Espressif. Uses a 2×3 header, which is nice in terms of compact size. Unfortunately there’s no useful overlap with the ESP-01 header.
Doesn’t seem to match up with anything else in terms of pin order, but is perhaps the closest match electrically in a 1×6 format: all the necessary pins, with 3.3V supplied.
Nice 2×3 format header. If power was added this would be a nice format, but it doesn’t have anything to differentiate it from the ESP-Prog format from Espressif.
This one has a 1×5 header, which has all the pins we want except power.
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